Faces of Faith: Ronald S. Bortz

Name of church, your volunteer positions there and how long serving there: St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 1018 N. Eighth St., serving on the parish council for five years, the Holy Name Society for 40-plus years, choir and folk group for 40-plus years.

Occupation: I am retired, however currently employed at the church as a maintenance man.

Family members: Married 61 years to Janet Bortz, have five children: Susan, 60; the Rev. Thomas Bortz, 59, pastor at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church in Spring Township; Edward, 58; James, 57; and Eileen, 51. I have six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

TODAY'S SPONSOR:

Describe some of the challenges and goals you see for your church: To get more people to come back to church and to blend the Latino and Anglo population into one big family.

Favorite Bible verse or inspirational quote: "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted," Matthew 23:12.

Hobbies and interests: Handyman work, sports, playing cards.

What do you find most rewarding about volunteering at church?: Hoping that what I do at church will give more people the urge to do likewise. We are in the season of Lent and we do rice bowl meals with five different ministries taking their turn to volunteer to prepare a simple meal, and the donations for this meal go to the Rice Bowl Fund. Also our parish does living Stations of the Cross, which takes a lot of preparation and many volunteers to do this task. And getting that good feeling of helping others and at the same time helping yourself.

If you have a suggestion for a member of a church council or consistory to be profiled in this column, please send an email to religion editor Carol Balinski at cbalinski@reading eagle.com or call 610-371-5007.